During that time, the defendant, who has name suppression, told a US woman of his desire to carry out a mass attack to gain notoriety.<\/p>\n
However, it was the raid over the child sex abuse material<\/a> that prompted the man to accelerate his plans for the attack and choose a date for when he\u2019d carry it out.<\/p>\n The summary said he disclosed the date of his planned attack to the US woman he\u2019d been talking to online. <\/p>\n FBI investigators subsequently spoke to her.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defendant told the young woman that he planned to commit a mass stabbing attack. He planned on doing the attack on the day he was due to appear in court on other charges,\u201d the summary states.<\/p>\n The summary said the man planned to \u201cuse a blade or bayonet\u201d during the attack and had also acquired an airsoft tactical vest.<\/p>\n Police received the information from the FBI<\/a> on September 28 and later that day they swooped on the defendant\u2019s home again with police locating two bladed weapons, one of which was a bayonet.<\/p>\n The defendant described himself as a \u201csoldier of Christ, his country, people and religion,\u201d according to a note in his diary that was photographed by investigators.<\/p>\n The man stated in the diary he was radicalised at the age of 19.<\/p>\n Police also found a Sony PlayStation 5 which was logged into a YouTube channel which had a video containing anti-Islam narratives. A Quran was also found in the man\u2019s wardrobe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defendant\u2019s extremist ideology and activities along with his threat to conduct a mass stabbing event is of significant concern to the New Zealand public and as a national security threat,\u201d the summary states.<\/p>\n He was charged with threatening to kill and cause grievous bodily harm, and the court has confirmed to the Herald he\u2019s pleaded guilty to the charge.<\/p>\n Defendant part of extremist group 764<\/p>\n During a forensic examination of the man\u2019s devices seized during the initial raid, vast quantities of disturbing and illegal content were discovered \u2013 most of which is too graphic to publish.<\/p>\n The first search of the man\u2019s home was on August 20, 2024, according to another summary of facts obtained by the Herald.<\/p>\n The search was conducted after the DIA received 81 separate tips from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).<\/p>\n NCMEC works with law enforcement globally to combat child exploitation, and the 81 alerts linked to the man were generated in the 12 months to November 2023.<\/p>\n The summary of facts shows when investigators seized the man\u2019s electronics, they found thousands of images and videos of child sex abuse material.<\/p>\n Investigators also found evidence he\u2019d been communicating with a child on Snapchat.<\/a><\/p>\n The defendant encouraged the child, aged 13, to send him sexually explicit images, a police summary of facts said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe also tells her that he loves her and offers to provide her with gaming tokens,\u201d the summary states.<\/p>\n The man gave investigators access to his MEGA.NZ account while claiming he couldn\u2019t remember what was in it. MEGA is an online file sharing platform.<\/p>\n A forensic analysis by a DIA investigator identified that 2309 files within the MEGA account promoted the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.<\/p>\n The files were publicly accessible to anyone with the relevant link, the summary said.<\/p>\n As well as the child abuse material, bestiality content and a video of a man having sex with a corpse in a \u201cmorgue setting\u201d was discovered.<\/p>\n The summary shows the man used 24 different emails to create different accounts on the social media platforms Discord and Instagram which he then used to distribute child sex abuse material.<\/p>\n He\u2019s pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and distributing child exploitation material.<\/p>\n The man\u2019s cell phone was also seized, although he refused to give police his pin code. <\/p>\n However, investigators managed to extract data from the phone anyway and found five video clips taken from the livestream of the 2019 Christchurch terror attack.<\/a><\/p>\n One of the videos was overlaid with a blue star of David and mixed with dance music.<\/p>\n The five videos of the terror attack were among 20 files on the cell phone that were categorised as violent extremist content.<\/p>\n The man also admitted to being part of a sadistic online exploitation group known as 764.<\/p>\n Members of 764, which are part of a wider network known as The Comm or The Community, try to exploit and radicalise others and promote violence.<\/p>\n The Herald has previously revealed the DIA\u2019s growing concerns about such groups.<\/a><\/p>\nCourt documents show a Hawke\u2019s Bay extremist was planning a mass stabbing attack. The FBI tipped off New Zealand police to the threat which led to his home being raided. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
As well as the child abuse material, bestiality content and a video of a man having sex with a corpse in a \u201cmorgue setting\u201d was discovered.<\/p>\n
Armed police guard the Masjid Al Noor after the deadly terror attack. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n